The next day...
Driving to his mother's house from work in the bleak darkness, Adam kept thinking about Mimi. Her smile was irresistible. Last night, he'd been grateful to come home to her sitting on his mother's couch. Her kindness was soft against the sore parts of his heart. When his grandmother's ring had slid effortlessly onto her finger, his chest had tightened, as if the gesture meant something more than sealing a mutually beneficial business deal. Being around her made him aware that he had not totally excised the foolish romantic at his core. More than likely, he wasn't falling for her, just confused by the pleasure of her ripe, lush curves filling his lap.
Waiting at the stoplight, his sister laughed at something on her screen. With her bare feet on his dash and her phone in her hands, Sarah ignored him from the passenger's seat. The blue light illuminated her face. Marge had picked Sarah up after school and brought her to the office. She was too young for all of this. He'd been too young when they went through it the first time. Back then, he'd believed he was a grown man. Laughable. As soon as the arrow turned green, he tapped the gas and pulled forward.
He'd felt sixteen when he bent down to kiss Mimi on her dirt road, one curve away from the line of sight of her protective father. Mimi's response to being kissed by him had played on repeat in his head since then. Her pliable mouth had given tender responses. He wanted to kiss her again, but that kind of sweetness was dangerous and could cause a man to catch feelings. For his whole life, he'd avoided falling in love. Mimi was dangerous.
But who else did he trust enough to marry? What other woman did he know that was an authentically good person? Well, besides Marge, who wouldn't want him anyway, since she was already married to a lovely woman. He grazed his thumb across where the ring used to be. He'd worn his grandmother's wedding band since his grandfather's death. Adam had argued with his father for the little band of gold at the old man's bedside. They hadn't known he was awake until he slipped the ring off and placed it in Adam's palm, ending the fight. His Dad had been pissed.
Grieving his wife's death had been hard for his grandfather, and he'd worn her wedding band on his pinky finger since the day cancer took her. Until yesterday, the band had stayed faithfully on Adam's finger as a reminder of his grandparent's love. People didn't love each other like that anymore.
He could not afford to catch feelings for a tasty, plump farm girl. It had been a while since he had indulged himself in a pretty woman's bed. Maybe that was the problem.
There was a Brazilian flight attendant who liked to visit his bed on her layovers. She was fun, but they had little in common except for being adventurous in the bedroom. It'd be impossible to be from his bloodline and be vanilla. He could call her. A strange wave of guilt settled in his gut. It was a fake engagement, damn it.
Sex didn't have to mean anything. They got a lot of things wrong in his father's family, but being inhibited in the bedroom was not an issue. How could it be? The family business was focused on being a resource for people who wanted to live out their fantasies. His Aunt Ann was his favorite family member besides Sarah. She was the only one of her generation that cared more about people than money. She'd brought the Box Company into the digital age and revolutionized their procedures, making their services available to more than just the one percent elite.
When Adam was a boy, he'd enjoyed testing out the features on the boxes. They'd tried out quite a few manufacturers before she accepted the function and the design. She'd been the one who inherited his grandfather's way with people. Not that the old man hadn't been good with money, the business had thrived in his hands. His father had only inherited his father's flair with money. As he pulled into the driveway, he told Sarah, "You go on in. I'm going to make one call."
Her gaze flicked to the time on his dash, and she shook her head. "Whatever." Once she unsnapped the seat belt, she grabbed her backpack with one hand and swung out of the truck, leaving the door open. With a sigh, Adam reached over to pull the door shut to stop the annoying beeping.
With the truck turned off, Adam pulled up his aunt's number. What the hell? He could try.
She answered on the seventh ring, just before he hung up. "Hello?"
"Auntie."
"Adam! How are you, my love?"
"I could be better. I just dropped my Mother off at rehab."
"Your father called me."
"I was hoping to talk to you before he did that."
"I'd love to give you a loan, honey, but if your dad finds out, he said he would fight me tooth and nail on our next rollout."
"He wouldn't dare. It would hurt his potential profit."
"Oh, he would, and has before." He could hear her take a breath. "He still hasn't acclimated to our father, putting me in charge instead of him. Not being in charge stings him."
"Sometimes he is so spiteful. Look how long he has held on to his hatred of my mom."
"She broke his heart. I think she is the only one that ever has."
Adam rubbed the pale skin on his pinky finger. "Do you think he loved her?"
"I know he did, once upon a time. I'm sorry he is taking out that old hurt on you."
"It's not the first time."
